


Reaction Time

by jupiterslifelessmoons



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kid Fic, Kid Sherlock, Sherlock Valentines Day Challenge, Sherlolly - Freeform, this is so heckin fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 12:53:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13236144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jupiterslifelessmoons/pseuds/jupiterslifelessmoons
Summary: This was written for the Sherlock Valentine’s Day Challenge. Prompt was “I guess this makes you my Valentine.”





	Reaction Time

“Molly, what are you playing?”

Molly paused to untangle the jump rope from around her feet. “It’s a jump rope rhyme. I-I need someone to hold the rope for me…” she frowned. “John, can you help?”

“Sure, Molly.”

John took one end of her rope. Molly beamed. “Okay, now you have to swing it–at the same time as me– One, two–”

But John had swung too early, and the rope had smacked Molly in the shin. “Ow!”

“Sorry, Molly, I’m really sorry…can we try again?”

Molly bent down, rubbed at her knee, and determined that she did not need a bandage. “Okay. But be careful this time!”

“Alright. I really will be, promise.”

Sally pushed past them both on her new roller blades, wobbling a bit and looking very much like she was trying to be cool. “That’s stupid, everyone knows you need two people to hold the rope while the other person jumps.”

“Well, why don’t you help us, then? You’re not even supposed to have your skates at recess!” John yelled after her, snorting as she almost fell into the gravel beside the blacktop and had to steady herself against Philip. “Idiot,” he muttered, loud enough for Molly to hear, because he could see the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.

“Hi, John. Hi, Molly. Anything wrong?”

John looked up. Greg was watching the scene with some concern. John breathed a sigh of relief; Greg was thirteen, practically a grownup, he could help.

“Um, yeah, Greg. Molly wants to do this jump rope poem–”

“Rhyme–”

“Rhyme, yeah, but she needs two people to hold the rope and swing it for her.”

“And John hit me the last time we tried,” Molly complained.

John opened his mouth to defend himself but Greg held up a hand. “It’s alright, you two, it’s because you’re the same height, and anyway, you do need two people who aren’t jumping to hold the rope. Here, let me get the other side.”

Molly gladly relinquished her end of the rope to Greg, and he backed up to an appropriate distance.

“Which rhyme is it, Molly?”

Molly blushed a little. “It’s the one with the berries.”

Greg grinned. “Oh, really? They say that can tell you who your Valentine is. You know tomorrow’s Valentine’s day, right?”

Molly nodded and blushed a little more.

“Alright, ready?”

“Ready.”

“One…two..three.”

This time the rope went fully over Molly’s head. She got into a good rhythm, and Greg began to chant. “Strawberries…blueberries..apple butter…what’s the name of your true lover? A, B, C, D, E…”

While Molly was jumping, a couple of other kids had wandered over to watch. Sherlock Holmes, who was a couple years older than Molly at ten, and his brother, Mycroft, who was even older than Greg at 17.

Molly was getting noticeably flustered, almost tripping up here and there, but managing to right herself just in time. She wasn’t used to so many people watching her.

“K, L, M, N…”

Molly wasn’t really paying attention to the rope now, she was looking at Sherlock.

“Q, R, S–!”

Molly’s feet had landed square on top of the rope, in what was either a deliberate move, a subconscious association, or– and this wasn’t very likely– a genuine mistake. She stood there, panting a little, and blushing at Sherlock.

Simultaneously, they all turned to watch his reaction.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “I guess this makes you my Valentine,” he said, and walked off.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Sherlock Valentine’s Day Challenge. Prompt was “I guess this makes you my Valentine.”


End file.
